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Copyrighted 1891, by Alex. G. Anderson, for 

THE LAKE WASHINGTON BELT LINE COMPANY, 


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LAKE WASHINGTON 

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RESOURCES OF THE REGION TRIBUTARY TO ITS EASTERN 
SHORES AND THE BEET TINE RAILROAD 



THE MANUFACTURING CITY OF THE PUGET SOUND REGION 



WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS 


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KIRKLAND, WASHINGTON 


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L,OWMAN AND HANFORD STATIONERY AND PRINTING COMPANY 

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ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE YEAR 1891 

BY 

AEEX. G. ANDERSON 

FOR THE 

LAKE WASHINGTON BEET EINE CO., 

IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. 






V 










PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. 


The publishers of this pamphlet have endeavored to give in its pages 
such general information regarding the resources and advantages of the 
region tributary to Lake Washington, as shall be of practical value to 
parties wishing to locate in Washington, either for the purpose of estab¬ 
lishing manufacturies of any kind, or settling on farms, garden tracts, or 
seeking employment in a new town whose future is assured. They have 
but one object in view in publishing and distributing this work and that 
object is to induce immigration to this point and to direct the attention 
of those who have already decided to settle in Washington, to the ad¬ 
vantages of the eastern shores of Lake Washington, especially for manu¬ 
facturing. 

The facts given in these pages cover a variety of subjects and the in¬ 
formation conveyed is in no case contorted or exaggerated ; on the con¬ 
trary, conservative statements are made in every case where facts are 
given, which, to those unacquainted with the region, would seem pre¬ 
posterous. 

Different subjects treated herein are not, of course, given in that detail 
which might be wished or required by parties having in view the estab¬ 
lishment of any particular manufacturing enterprise—an encyclopedia of 
a dozen large volumes would scarcely do that—but the publishers think 
the information given will prove interesting reading to manufacturers, 
business men and artisans of all trades, and come as a revelation to the 
majority. Those wishing further information on any particular subject 
have but to correspond with any of the corporations or individuals inter¬ 
ested in the properties and manufactories at or in the vicinity of Kirk¬ 
land, and all possible information will be promptly furnished them. 

This pamphlet is published not by one corporation or company, but by 
all those corporations and individuals interested in the manufactories 
now being and soon to be established on the east shores of the lake, their 
idea being that the more manufactories established at this point the better 
it will be for all, as competition is out of the question, owing to low cos; 
of manufacturing almost anything from a pin to a ship, and the market 
so wide ; while the benefits from the close association of manufactured 
material will be felt by all. They feel also that at no other point in 
Western Washington or in the Union can manufactories of almost any 
character be established and run to such profit as on the eastern shores 
of Lake Washington,' on the^Belt Line Railway. 

Kirkland, May i, 1891. 





Washington. 


HE American who has taken the journey 
“from the rising to the setting sum,” 
across the broad domain of Uncle Sam, 
has seen wonders of nature that for vast¬ 
ness, grandeur, richness and beauty, 
could not be surpassed in any other coun¬ 
try on the globe. He has traversed fertile 
plains and more fertile valleys ; burrowed 
through or climbed in winding lines 
grand snow-capped mountain ranges ; he 
has crossed or followed in circuitous routes pretty streams, roaring moun¬ 
tain torrents and great and mighty rivers ; skirted the shores of beautiful 
lakes, on the plains and in the mountains, and viewed the waters of 
mighty inland seas ; he has traveled thousands of miles through a coun¬ 
try of cultivated fields of grain and produce and orchards of every vari¬ 
ety of fruit, and again over miles upon miles of virgin prairie or through 
leagues of forest primeval. He has passed through rich mineral regions, 
w 7 here'lavish nature has deposited within easy reach, vast stores of all the 
useful and precious metal ores known to civilization. If he be a man of 
broad view ? s with an active mind, ever so well read, or highly edu¬ 
cated, his soul has been expanded by this ocular demonstration of that 
which he, perhaps, already knew—the incalculable natural wealth and 
sublime grandeur of the country which is the inheritance of the noblest 
nation yet moulded by destiny. 

George Washington and his compatriots realized but in a small meas¬ 
ure the wealth of the country they won for the nation born to the union 



5 






of freedom and the sword, but it is most fitting that the section of that 
country, within whose borders are found in lavish profusion, almost all 
the natural resources of the entire domain, should bear the name of the 
patriot worrior and statesman who led the glorious struggle for the free¬ 
dom of America, and so become—the State of Washington. 

After passing the great Rocky Mountain range, the traveler from the 
Bast has entered the borders of the state which is the prototype of the en¬ 
tire country. He will travel on to the Pacific through every phase of 
nature—above, about and below—which he has seen or heard of during 
all his long journey from the far away Atlantic seaboard, the only differ¬ 
ence being that here all nature seems intensified or magnified—the 
scenery more grand ; the plains and valleys more fertile ; the forests more 
magnificent in their boundless extent and wealth of giant trees ; farms and 
orchards and grain fields more fruitful ; mineral formations more diversi¬ 
fied, abundant and rich ; natural waterways more convenient for com¬ 
merce ; climate more equitable—and the seeming is indeed real. One 
might imagine that the Creator had formed the rest of the United States 
and then condensed the whole grand work into the region now known as 
the State of Washington. 

The State is traversed north and south by the Cascade range of moun¬ 
tains, dividing it into two sections, considerably dissimilar in climate and 
topography—both of unlimited wealth in natural resources. The climate 
of Eastern Washington is subject to greater extremes of temperature 
than the western half of the State, although much milder than the same 
latitudes east. The widening of the Cascade range in the northern part 
of the state, extending eastward, north of the Columbia river, forms the 
mountain region known as the Okanogan country, rich in all the min¬ 
erals of commerce. South and east of the river, the great Columbia 
plain is a rich plateau, covered with bunch grass, affording extensive cat¬ 
tle ranges, and, where cultivated, growing wonderful crops of cereals, 
averaging higher than the crops of any other state in the Union. At the 
state exposition held at Spokane Falls in 1890 was exhibited a pyramid 
of 101^2 bushels of wheat grown 011 one acre of land in Whitman county. 
This yield has been surpassed in some sections of Western Washington. 

That portion of Washington west of the Cascades is the region of 
Puget Sound ; that fertle basin 'of the Northwest so prolific in products 
and rich in minerals, that the relation of facts in regard to it sounds like 
romance, worse than ordinary exaggeration, to those who have not actu¬ 
ally traveled through it and made investigation. Reference to the for¬ 
ests of fine timber, to the mines of iron, coal, stone, the precious metals 
and other minerals will be made later on, as also to the fertility of the 
valleys, fiats and upland country. Nature has done her utmost for 
Western Washington, and not satisfied with [the wealth bestowed, has 
provided for the convenience of commerce, the most wonderful natural 


6 


waterway and. harbor, not alone of the Pacific coast, but of the world— 
Puget Sound. 

Puget Sound is a great succession of bays and channels, extending 
southward from the straits of San de Fuca, with interminable windings, 
between the Cascades and the Olympics, for nearly loo miles, but so 
numerous are its large islands, and so extensive its ramifications that 
it has a shore line of more than i,Soo miles, and, rarely disturbed by 
storms, with a depth of from 300 to 600 feet, without bars, shoals or 
rocks, and navigable for the largest vessels close to shore in most local¬ 
ities, its value as a commercial highway is as great as nature could 
make it. 

No wonder then, that so soon as the natural wealth, resources and ad¬ 
vantages of this region had become widely known and to some degree 
appreciated, both labor and capital should be brought to bear for its de¬ 
velopment in such haste, that within a few years great cities should 
grow into being, miles upon miles of railway be built and enterprises re¬ 
quiring millions of money be set on foot. The recounting of such a sur¬ 
prising commercial movement is the history of Washington for the past 
five years. The population of the state in 1885 was 127,292 ; the federal 
census for 1890 places it at 349,516, a larger percentage of gain than any 
other state in the Union. In a list of the 47 states and territories ac¬ 
cording to population in 1880, Washington stood No. 42. In that of the 
49 in 1890, Washington stands 34, having gained more places than any 
other, all of which gives an idea of the constantly increasing immigra¬ 
tion into the state. Nearly two-thirds of the population of the state is in 
Western Washington. 

It is but a few years since that great agent for development, the rail¬ 
way, had yet to penetrate the forests or plains of Washington, yet at the 
close of 1890, there were in operation 43 line and branches, with a total 
mileage of 2,080.93, with many other lines under construction and more 
projected and surveyed. Most of these lines are in Western Washington. 
In 1890 there was constructed 372.15 miles of road at a cost of $7,040,940. 
This is by far more than built in any other western state excepting Mon¬ 
tana, and but 63.46 miles less than in that state, through which was built 
that year, so many miles of the Great Northern, on its way to Washing¬ 
ton. There are under construction now, on 20 roads in Washington, 
951.41 miles, 603.41 more than in Montana and 426.41 more than is being 
constructed in any other western state. There have been projected and 
surveyed in the State 1,472 miles, most of which undoubtedly will be 
constructed. These railroad plans for the future, far exceed those for 
any other state, and are the most convincing evidence of the interest 
now being taken by large capitalists, in the development of Washington. 

Industrial development is both the cause for and the effect of railway 
building, and its bearing in either direction may be estimated when fig- 


7 


ures giving an idea of its magnitude are obtained. As an indication of 
the increase of active capital brought to bear on the development of 
Washington during 1890, the following extract from the report of the 
secretary of state, Allen Weir, is to the point: 

“ The number and character of incorporations is an excellent indica¬ 
tion of the manner new capital is employed for investment and for the 
development of the resources of the state. The record for the year is 
greater than that of any previous year. The total is 776 against 668 for 
1889. The total capitalization is $188,028,950, of which doubtless a very 
large fraction is already actively employed.” 

It is safe to say that more than three-fourths of this new capital has 
been invested west of the Cascades. 

The rapid settlement of Washington and the phenomenal growth of 
her cities, especially those on Puget Sound, are well known facts. Easily 
leading all cities in point of population, wealth and activity, is Seattle, 
between Elliot Bay on the Sound and Lake Washington, having miles of 
frontage on both bodies of water. 

The increase of commerce at Seattle during 1890 was very large, her 
jobbing business being $31,000,000, an increase of $11,000,000 over the 
previous year. Her manufactories produced an output of goods valued at 
$11,000,000. But manufacturing in the State of Washington is in its in¬ 
fancy. As yet the extensive iron mines have scarcely been opened ; al¬ 
though vast quantities of coal have been mined, the wealth of the State 
in that important manufacturing factor has hardly been touched ; al¬ 
though the manufacture of lumber, lath and shingles has been enormous, 
the making and building of the numberless articles for which lumber is 
used has been left to other states, and so on through the whole list of 
natural products of the country. This, however, is beginning to change, 
as is most natural, and there are springing up new enterprises, fostered 
by men who appreciate the great profit in manufacturing where material 
of every conceivable description is close at hand, and shipping facilities 
already good and being augmented as fast as capital and labor can ac¬ 
complish the work. In a few }^ears Seattle will be a greater railway cen¬ 
ter than any other point on the Pacific coast, with four, if not five trans¬ 
continental railways running to her docks, and a network of roads 
reaching out, north, south and east, to all parts of the state. I11 this 
vicinity therefore will be best brought together the raw materials and 
products of the state, and in this vicinity will be established the most and 
more extensive manufactories. 

The City of Seattle is almost surrounded by water. To the west is El¬ 
liott Bay, to the north Lake Union, and to the east that magnificent body 
of fresh water, which is destined to become as important a factor in the 
commerce of Washington, as is the harbor of New York in that of the 
Empire State—Lake Washington. 


8 


1iAKE UUASHlNGTOJSl. 


“ A BEAUTIFUL sheet 
of water; picturesque 
and grand! ” is the ex¬ 
clamation of the trav¬ 
eler as he first gets a 
view of the waters and 
surroundings of Lake 
Washington, but the 
man of thought and 
enterprise, as he learns 
its characteristics and 
geographical position, catches a glimpse of coming commercial wealth 
and activity through the magnificent views of nature upon which he 
gazes. 

From the crest of the ridge which divides Lake Washington from 
Puget Sound, the view either to the west or east is sublime. Toward the 
setting sun lie the placid waters of the sound, beyond which rise the tim¬ 
bered slopes of Kitsap county, and still beyond the snow-capped peaks of 
the Olympic loom up to form a jagged horizon. Toward the east, just 
below, glisten the waters of the lake, reflecting in dark shadows the for¬ 
ests of the opposite shores. Here and there the woods, which come right 
down to the water, are broken by clearings, cultivated fields and towns 
along the eastern shore. Back from the shore the evergreen forests roll 
upward toward the Cascades, and the horizon is cheated of its even line 
by the grotesque outline of the mountain peaks, which stretch from 
north to south, terminating in that snow-crowned glory, Mt. Rainier, 
which, though 60 miles away, appears to rise from the water’s edge at 
the foot of the lake. The great height of the mountain, 14,444 feet, and 
the clearness of the atmosphere, give this impression of nearness. 



9 
































Lake Washington is 18 miles from north to south, but its windings 
make the actual length several miles longer. It is generally from two to 
three miles wide, though at Union Bay and Mercer Island it is over four 
miles from shore to shore. It covers an area of 41 square miles, and has 
a shore line of about 70 miles. The only island, of any consequence, in 
the lake, is Mercer Island, toward the southern end, which is about live 
miles long by two wide. The depth of the lake is very great, and lik e 
Puget Sound the shores are abrupt enough to admit the largest ocean 
vessels to come close in. 

A few years ago the dense fringe of forest encircled the lake with 
scarcely a break perceptible. The bear, the deer and their companions 
of the wood, came unmolested to drink on the beach, and the myriads of 
wild fowl were free from the possibility of fright at the puffing steamer. 
There were, perhaps, here and there, a logger’s camp or a pioneer’s 
cabin, but on the whole it was a magnificent wilderness, and the signs of 
a great development were indeed few. To-day the scene is changed ; the 
logging camps are more numerous and large lumber mills at different 
points are doing their share of the great lumber business of the Puget 
Sound region. Fruitful farms have been cleared about the pioneers’ 
houses, and substantial residences taken the place of the log cabins. 
Towns have come into existence and are rapidly growing, and to accom¬ 
modate traffic a score of steamers ply between the different points. And 
now, too, along the eastern shore is being rapidly pushed to completion, 
a railway, which will be the direct traffic line of the Northern Pacific 
railroad, known as the Lake Washington Belt Line. It will not be long 
till a ship canal from the sound to the lake will afford the w^ay for ocean 
vessels to reach and meet the tracks of the railway on the shores of what 
will then be the finest fresh water harbor in the world. Extended men¬ 
tion of both these enterprises will be made later on. 

Lake Washington is the largest body of fresh water in the western part 
of the State, and at Seattle is but three miles from the sound. It is fed by 
numerous small streams, and into it, at the northern end, empties Sam¬ 
mamish slough, which is the outlet of Sammamish lake. This lake lies 
east of Lake Washington from five to six miles ; is seven miles north and 
south and about a mile and a half wide ; its waters are deep and shores 
abrupt; its southern end is within a few miles of the Gilman coal mines, 
and to the east of it is the fertile Snoqualmie valley. 

The natural outlet of Lake Washington is the Black river, which flows 
south-west from its southern extremity, and at Black River Junction, 
unites with the Duwamish, which in turn empties into Elliott bay. 
There is, however, another route by which some of the wafer finds 
its way into the sound. Reference has been made to the chain of 
waters which bounds Seattle on the north. It is formed by Union bay, 
extending east from the main body of Lake Washington, a short canal 


10 


to Lake Union, which finds an outlet to the sound by a small stream 
which empties into Salmon bay, an inlet of Shilshole bay. It is by the 
widening, deepening and straightening of these waters, where necessary, 
that it is proposed to make a water way from the sound to the lake ample 
enough to accommodate the sea-going vessels that now visit the waters of 
Puget Sound. This will mean an unrivalled harbor in the waters of Lake 
Washington for the vessels which must carry the exports of the manu¬ 
factories which are already being established on the eastern shore for 
the purpose of utilizing the raw material, products and natural wealth of 
the state, all so readily accessible from this point. 

It was, primarily, because of the unequaled advantages of the eastern 
shore of Lake Washington as a manufacturing site, that the railway now 
building through that section was projected, and when, in 1890, the 
Northern Pacific had practically secured control of the Seattle Lake 
Shore & Eastern, the construction of the Lake Washington Belt pine was 
immediately begun. 



n 






LiAJ^E UlASHIflGTOH BEET MpE 


Lake Washington, being in King 
county, near to the sound, is very 
nearly in the geographical center of 
the western section of the state, and 
the topography of the Puget Sound 
region has aided in making its im¬ 
mediate neighborhood the commercial 
and transportation center also. To¬ 
ward this point converge all the rail¬ 
ways from the east, south and north, 
and Seattle, lying between the lake 
and the sound, is the chief port of the 
state. It is not surprising, therefore, 
that King county is the wealthiest 
county of the state and that its as¬ 
sessed property valuation should jump 
from 123,503,890 in 1889 to $44,045,275 
in 1890, having nearly doubled in one 
year. It is, too, the wealthiest county 
in natural resources. 

The Northern Pacific Railway, 
which was the first trans-continental road to reach a turminus 011 Puget 
Sound, did not long remain satisfied with this achievement. It had 
reached, to be sure, a point on the Pacific coast where it could handle its 
share of the great export and import traffic with the nations of the Hast, 
but it had, too, done something more ; it had tapped the richest region 
of the coast, whose resources when developed, would demand extensive 
traffic facilities. The great company was not slow to recognize this fact, 
and it has lost no time in building lines and gaining control of others 
reaching out in every direction through the state. Its plans for the 
future are even more ambitious than its past accomplishments. In the 
summer of 1890 the Northern Pacific secured control of the Seattle, Lake 
Shore & Eastern, whose line was then being completed north from Seat- 



12 










































tie through the heavy timber and rich valleys of Snohomish, Skagit and 
Whatcom counties to the international boundary, and so to a connection 
with the Canadian Pacific, which runs a spur to the boundary from Mis¬ 
sion on the Frazer river. The acquisition of this road was followed by an 
agreement made with the Oregon Improvement Company for traffic ar¬ 
rangements over the Seattle & Northern, which is now built east from 
Anacortes through the rich agricultural, mineral and timber region of the 
Skagit valley as far as Hamilton and is being rapidly pushed to Sauk 
City, at the foot of the Cascades. All the territory to the north was thus 
taken care of; that to the east and south had already been secured ; it 
remained to make the best possible connection at the central point, and 
occupy the territory where most conveniently could be brought together 
for manufacture and reshipment the varied resources and products of the 
state. It was with this end in view that the construction of the Take 
Washington Belt Line was begun. 

It may perhaps be interesting to know who are the men backing the 
enterprise, and who subscribed the $ 2,000,000 capital of the Belt Line 
Company. They are all railroad men and capitalists of national reputa¬ 
tion. The list includes, J. D. Rockefeller, Gen. John H. Bryant, Cole¬ 
gate Hoyt, James McNaught, J. F. McNaught and L. S. J. Hunt. 

The construction of the road was begun in August, 1890, and is now 
completed. It is 23 miles long. Leaving the Northern Pacific at Black 
River Junction, about two and a half miles southwest of the lake, it 
passes through Renton, crosses the Cedar river and the tracks of the 
Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad, and striking the foot of the lake runs 
along the eastern shore, keeping close to the water for six miles, when it 
crosses Mercer slough, and so on up through Houghton, Kirkland and other 
towns along the lake to a connection with the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern near Woodinville Junction two and a half miles above the head 
of the lake. Nowhere on the road is there a grade of more than one per 
cent. This makes a much shorter route for the Northern Pacific for traf¬ 
fic north and south than by the circuitous route around by the sound 
through Seattle, and around again by the north to the east of Lake Wash¬ 
ington. This fact has given rise to the generally accepted belief that the 
building of the Belt Line was merely for the accommodation of the 
through freight traffic, from and to the north, of the Northern Pacific. 
Although this advantage is gained, there was a much stronger incentive 
for the building of the Belt Line. Its projectors realized that the eastern 
shores of Lake Washington would offer the most advantageous manu¬ 
facturing sites for enterprises sure to follow the opening up and develop¬ 
ment of the country. The lake, easily connected with the sound by a 
ship canal, would also offer many more advantages as a harbor than salt 
water, and would bring vessels close in to the very gates of the region of 
timber, coal, iron and other minerals between the lakes and to the east. 




Between the two lakes, not far from the southern end of Lake Washing¬ 
ton, are situated the Newcastle coal mines, and to the south-east, on the 
Columbia & Puget Sound road are the Black Dimond, Franklin and Cedar 
Mountain coal workings. The eastern line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern railway leaves Woodinville Junction and runs south along the 
eastern shores of Sammamish lake, through a heavily timbered country, 
past the Niblock coal mines and those at Gilman, and then turns east 
up the Snoqualmie valley, through prolific hop lands and forests of giant 
firs and cedars, to the Snoqualmie mineral region, where the Denny iron 
mines are. At present the road is completed as far as Sallal Prairie, and 
during the summer of’91 will be extended 25 miles further east to Sno¬ 
qualmie Pass, if indeed it is not carried through to a junction with the 
Northern Pacific, east of the mountains, which would give that road two 
routes through the Cascades. 

To this point on the east of Lake Washington, will therefore pour in 
the wealth of agriculture, timber, coal and minerals from all directions ; 
from the north the output of the Snohomish, Skykomish, Stillaquamish, 
Skagit and Nooksack valleys and the mineral regions back of them ; 
from the east the timber, agricultural and mineral products of the Sno¬ 
qualmie valley and the Cascades ; from the south the coal from the King 
county mines, and the yield of the hop fields and agricultural lands of the 
White river, Puyallup, Chehalis and Cowlitz valleys, and all the rich 
country contiguous to them. The builders of the Belt Line saw that here 
must be brought together the material for manufactories ; that here was 
the most advantageous point for the establishment of large productive 
enterprises. The hilly character of the land between the lake and the 
sound, making it impossible to enter or leave Seattle by rail, except on the 
water front, and the spreading of the city over so large an area, precluded 
the feasibility of establishing large works west of the lake—they must by 
every natural cause be located on the east shore. The only possible 
drawback, if such indeed it could be considered while railway facilities 
could be so readily obtained, was its distance from salt water and ocean 
shipping, but even this will be, in the near future, one of its greatest ad¬ 
vantages, for by the building ot the canal from the sound the shipping 
will be admitted but the saltjwater still be excluded. 


H 


THE SHIP CflHflE- 


The feasibility of con¬ 
structing a canal to con¬ 
nect Take Washington 
with the sound has long 
been acknowledged, as 
has the great commercial 
advantages which would 
thereby accrue. Along 
the shores of t the chain of 
waters which needed but 
short connecting links to 
make a clear waterway 
from lake to sound, have 
been established numerous saw mills, and about these mills have collected 
little hamlets that are now suburbs of Seattle. To bring to the mills on 
Lake Union, by water, timber cut on the shores of Lake Washington, the 
idea of cutting a small canal from Union bay to Lake Union was 
conceived. In 18S4, D. T. Tenny, E. M. Smithers and associates formed 
a company and executed the work. This small canal is .still used as a 
w r aterway for logs, and is a source of large revenue to its owners. This 
small beginning in the way of complete connection, drew the attention of 
those interested more closely to the project of a ship canal, and the mak¬ 
ing of Lake Washington a vast land-locked fresh water harbor for sea¬ 
going vessels. It was endorsed by all who gave the subject any consid¬ 
eration, and as a result of the growing feeling favoring its accomplishment 
the matter was brought to the attention of Congress by Senator Squire 
and Congressman Wilson. That body, in its river and harbor bill of 1890, 
incorporated a clause authorizing a preliminary survey and appropriating 
$10,000 for the purpose. Acting under the provisions of this bill, the 
chief of army engineers appointed a commission consisting of Col. D. H. 
Mendell, Maj. T. H. Handbury and Capt. Thos. W. Symons to supervise 
the survey, and they appointed Engineer P. G. Eastwick to prosecute the 
work. 

The survey was begun by Engineer Eastwick and a corps of 20 engineers 
in the latter part of October, ’90, and the field work was completed the 
last of February, ’91, when Engineer Eastwick closed his office at Fre¬ 
mont and returned to his headquarters at Portland to make out'plans'and 
estimates to incorporate in his report. 

15 



\ 





































The writer had a long conversation with Mr. Eastwick at the close of 
his field work’ during which the veteran engineer gave many facts and 
figures gained by his work on the survey, and all his statements prove 
most conclusively that the canal can be constructed at a very moderate 
cost considering the many great advantages for the commercial interests 
of the territory that would thus be made accessible to vessels of all nations. 
The work done in the field comprised extensive topographical and hydro- 
graphic surveys, extending from the sound, through Salmon bay, Lake 
Union, Lake Washington, and of the shores of those bodies of water, and 
of the valley between the head of Lake Washington and Sammamish lake, 
and of the shores of the latter body of water, for the survey also includes 
a project to connect by canal those two lakes. The following figures of 
altitudes and distances, will give some idea of the work which will be re¬ 
quired : The height of Lake Union above high water of the sound is 12 
feet, Lake Washington, 18 feet, Sammamish, 28 feet. The distance from 
deep water in the sound to the head of Salmon bay is one and three-quar¬ 
ters miles ; from the bay to Lake Union, one and one-quarter miles ; two 
miles through Lake Union, and three-eights of a mile to Union bay and 
Lake Washington. The survey made from Lake Washington to Sam¬ 
mamish lake cuts off many widenings of the slough and is 12 miles long. 

Mr. Eastwick states that he should submit in his report several different 
estimates and plans for construction, varying both in engineering method 
and in material construction, and having a very large difference in cost. 
He asserted that there was not the shadow of an engineering difficulty in 
the way of the project, but on the contrary conditions were very favor¬ 
able for the work. The formation of the ground through the portages be¬ 
tween the lakes and between Lake Union and Salmon bay is such that 
excavation will be easy, more especially as the route will be by the small 
waterways between those points. About a mile of dredging will be neces¬ 
sary in the upper end of Lake Union, which has a soft, muddy bottom, 
and some dredging will have to be done at the head of Salmon bay and at 
the head of Union bay, all of which will be light work, and will cost less 
than the average cost of grading for a railway the same distance. The 
maximum cut through the portage will be but 40 feet. The low cost 
plan which will be submitted contemplates admitting vessels only at high 
tide. By this plan the level of Lake Washington would be lowered to 
that of Lake Union, and locks at the head of Salmon bay would raise ves¬ 
sels 12 feet to the level of the lakes and into fresh water. A channel 
would be dredged from Sliilsliole bay to the locks, to admit all vessels at 
high tide, and at some future time locks could be constructed at the en¬ 
trance to the bay, which would keep its waters at liigli-tide level, and by 
the dredging of the channel into Sliilsliole bay and the construction of 
jetties to protect it, vessels could enter at all stages of the tide. . Different 
specifications which will be submitted will provide for either stone or 

16 


heavy timber construction in fresh water. Plans will also be submitted 
for an entrance by way of Smith’s Cove which extends from the sound 
south of Salmon bay up toward the head of that inlet. 

Although the survey of the Sammamish canal has been made it is not 
certain that it will be constructed at present though the work would be 
light and the benefit alone derived by the reclaiming of some 10,000 acres 
of bottom lands along the slough would more than justify the undertak¬ 
ing, to say nothing of the benefit to commerce by admitting shipping to 
Sammamish lake. 

But the canal to Lake Washington is assured. Should Congress fail to 
follow up the work, the interests involved are so vast and important that 
private capital will not hesitate to take up the undertaking. Perhaps the 
benefit of a fresh water harbor for sea-going vessels is not thoroughly un¬ 
derstood. All vessels in salt water gather great masses of barnacles, 20 
or 30 tons of such matter sometimes accumulating 011 the bottom and 
sides of a i,ooo-tou ship. To remove this matter the vessel must go on 
the dry dock and a gang of men with chisels and crowbars be employed 
in the cleaning. This entails great expense through labor and loss of 
time. A short stay in fresh water will clear barnacles from a ship with 
little or no expense, so that the saving in this direction would be large. 
But the saving in another way would be even greater. The cost of main¬ 
taining wharves and warehouses along the front of a fresli-water harbor 
is insignificant in comparison with that of keeping in repair the same 
structures in salt water, where the ravages of the teredo soon honeycombs 
and weakens the piling. During 1890 a half dozen large wharves 011 Se¬ 
attle harbor broke down under their load, entailing a loss of thousands of 
dollars. The life of a pile in salt water is less than two years, so that all 
the vast structure of wharves and trestle work of the harbor is actually re¬ 
placed by repairing during that time. It costs the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern over $3,000 per month to keep their tracks along the water front 
in Seattle in repair. There would be little of this enormous expense in 
fresh water. Ships while in this fresh water harbor would be absolutely 
free from disturbance by tide or storm. The actual saving in these direc¬ 
tions would in a very short time be much greater than the cost of the 
ship canal. But above all there are the advantages which will be gained 
by bringing shipping within easy reach of the region of timber, coal, 
iron, limestone, granite, marble, potter’s clay, fire clay, plumbago, and so 
many natural resources, and to a point where best these products can be 
brought together for manufacture—the eastern shore of Lake Washing¬ 
ton. 

Already this location has been taken advantage of, and there is now 
being built at Kirkland works for the greatest manufacturing enterprise 
not alone of Washington, but of the entire Northwest—the extensive works 
of the Qreat Western Iron & Steel Company, 


x 7 


THE KIRK^A^D STEEIi WORKS. 



Reference lias already been made to the remarkable proximity in King 
County of timber, coal, iron ore, limestone and fire clay, a grouping of 
materials necessary for the smelting of iron ore and manufacture of steel, 
equaled in no other State or country. These materials, too, are all of su¬ 
perior quality to those found elsewhere, as will appear later on in special 
reference to each of them. 

In 1886 Mr. Peter Kirk, one of the owners and managers of the great 
Moss Bay Iron & Steel Works of England, visited Washington on a tour 
of inspection, and after a thorough personal investigation, in which he 
expended thousands of dollars, was convinced that in the region of King 
County could be established a great iron and steel plant that for advant¬ 
ages of location could no where else be excelled. The results of his ex¬ 
periments with all the materials close at hand for the manufacture of the 
best Bessemer steel were a surprise not only to himself, but even to those 
who supposed they were acquainted with the natural richness of the 
region. 

The field was practically unoccupied. In all of Washington there was 
but one iron plant established. On the western shore of Puget Sound 
near Port Townsend there was in successful operation the Irondale works, 
which had been established in 1882, and which were turning out pig iron 
manufactured from a refractory ore obtained on Texada Island, charcoal 
being used in reduction. Washington at that time had just entered on 
that era of rapid settlement and development which still continues and 

18 








































has attracted the attention of the country at large. The demand for iron 
and steel, Mr. Kirk saw, would naturally be very great, and the large 
saving in freight rates would add profit to what would already be a very 
profitable enterprise. Besides the demand of Washington would be that 
of the other Pacific States, to say nothing of the export trade which 
might be had to the South American and Eastern nations, all of which 
could be supplied much more cheaply from Puget Sound than from any 
other point. Mr. Kirk determined to take advantage of the situation, 
and in 1888, after two years spent in investigation and experiment, 
formed the Moss Bay Iron & Steel Company of Washington. Still fur¬ 
ther experiment and the matter of selecting the most advantageous site 
for the works engaged the attention of the new company for many 
months. It was at one time proposed to locate near Cle Elum, just east 
of the Cascades, but the superior advantages of the Snoqualmie district 
and King County were soon manifest, and a site on Sallal Prairie was se¬ 
lected. This in turn was abandoned for the more advantageous location 
on the eastern shores of Take Washington. As the wonderful resources 
of the region for the manufacture of iron and steel became more fully 
realized it was determined to swing the enterprise on a more liberal scale 
than at first contemplated, and with this in view the company was in 
June of 1890, reorganized as the Great Western Iron & Steel Company, 
with a capital stock of $1,000,000, paid up, and powers to increase to 
|5,ooo,ooo, as the work progresses, and in that same month work was 
commenced on the site at Kirkland for an iron and steel plant that for 
extent and capacity is at present only equaled by the recently consol¬ 
idated works at Chicago. 

The capitalists interested in this gigantic enterprise are men known 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the country over, and the simple fact 
that they are interested bespeaks speedy completion and energetic oper¬ 
ation of the works. Among the shareholders in the corporation are Gen. 
Russel A. Alger of Michigan, Joshua M. Sears, the Boston millionaire, 
Senator J. Sloat Fassett of Elmira, N. Y., H. A. Noble of the Baker 
Barb Wire Works, Edward Blewett of Fremont, Neb., W. A. Underwood 
of New York, president of the American Water Company, and E. S. J. 
Hunt, Peter Kirk, A. A. Denny, Jacob Furth and Bailey Gatzert of Seat¬ 
tle, besides other men well known in the financial circles of the country. 
The affairs of the company are under the direct management of a presi¬ 
dent and two directors, E. S. J Hunt being president and Peter Kirk and 
H. A. Noble managing directors. It is to these gentlemen the writer is 
indebted for information concerning the steel works. He also visited the 
works and was shown about by Mr. W. W. Williams, secretary, and Mr. 
J. G. Kellett, resident engineer, both of whom had been life long em¬ 
ployes of the Moss Bay Company of England, before their connection 
with the Kirkland Works. Prior to the spring of 1890 all the government 


19 


land along the east shore of Lake Washington had been taken up, and as 
has been already stated, much timber had been cut and clearings made 
for orchards and farms, the land being especially fine for fruit, berries 
and vegetables. Directly opposite Union bay the small town of Hough¬ 
ton had grown up and three miles to the north was Jaunita, another small 
town. Between the two, jutting out into the lake, with Pleasant bay on 
the south and Jaunita bay on the north was a fine level plateau, mostly 
cleared and set out to orchards. Directly back from this natural town 
site, about two miles from the lake, was the site selected by Mr. Kirk for 
the steel works. At the time this was determined on a company of gen¬ 
tlemen purchased considerable of the property between the two bays and 
the town of Kirkland was there platted. Wharves and warehouses were 
erected, and such other buildings as were immediately demanded, and 
five or six miles of street planking was put down. Although the original 
town-site company has done not a particle of “ booming ” and indeed did 
not care to, the place has grown rapidly. The tents and “ shacks ” first 
erected for the transaction of business, have given place to substantial 
brick buildings, and the erection of residences has been so extensive that 
now the two small places to the north and south are nearly connected 
and the whole is practically the town of Kirkland. For these building 
operations, Kirkland has herself produced most of the material; her own 
saw-mills have furnished most of the timber and her own brick yard the 
bricks. Between the lake shore and the steel works a large area has been 
cleared of the timber, and it is an accepted prophecy that in a very short 
time this space will be thickly built upon. 

The site on which is now being built the largest steel plant in the 
country was in June of 1890 a dense piece of woods, the giant cedars and 
firs standing so thickly as to almost exclude the daylight. This, liow T - 
ever, was not an impediment but a blessing, as vast quantities of timber 
must be used, and here was the material on the ground. A saw-mill 
capable of handling the large logs was erected, and the clearers followed 
the loggers in their work, and were in turn followed by the graders and 
builders. Up to the 1st of March, 1891, the mill had been constantly 
busy, and had cut more than 3,000,000 feet of lumber, all of which is 
being used in construction of the works, and the mill is still but at the 
commencement of its task. 

One hundred acres of ground had been set apart for the works, but this 
was found to be insufficient, and 20 acres more, to be used as a site for 
the manufacture of fire bricks, have been added. Most of the fire bricks 
for the furnices will therefore be manufactured 011 the ground. Indeed, 
almost all the material for the erection of the buildings, bunkers, and the 
vast array of machinery and tools for the plant are to be manufactured 
on the spot. The works are to be “self-constructive,” and it is doubtful 
if there ig another spot on the globe where this undertaking could be ac^ 


20 


complished so thoroughly, quickly and economically, unless perhaps oil 
Jules Verne’s “ Mysterious Island,” which, however, that ingenius author 
has never definitely located. 

It is no exaggeration to say that the entire works and machinery could 
be built without going outside of the county for material. To hasten the 
work of construction, however, a great deal of material and machinery 
was purchased in Glasgow, Scotland, and the first shipload arrived in 
Puget Sound March 7, 1891. Two other shiploads were then 011 the way 
from Great Britain. 

The steel works proper will reduce the fine Snoqualmie ores to Bessemer 
steel billets and steel rails, but there will be in connection large plate iron 
works, foundary, blacksmith shops and machine shops, besides hundreds 
of coke ovens, brick-yards for the manufacture of fire-brick, and the saw¬ 
mill already in operation. The number and extent of the buildings re¬ 
quired for these vast works ean only be realized by a thorough inspection 
and understanding of the plans for the works, or by a visit to the scene 
of operation. The works are being built 011 a “ duplicate ” plan, that is, 
from a line through the center, the buildings and plant on each side will 
be fac similies. The plans call for four large blast furnaces and their ac¬ 
cessory plant. The furnaces will be 75 feet high with a capacity of 1,500 
tons per week each, and so soon as the first two are in operation 3,000 
tons of steel rail will be rolled each week. Some idea of the extent of 
the buildings of the Bessemer works, rolling-mills and finishing depart¬ 
ments can be gained from the statement that rails are to be rolled in five- 
length strips, and as the rolling-mill must be twice this length, with an 
addition for trimming and working room at each end, it must be at least 
320 feet long ; then there are the cutting and finishing departments as 
extensive in proportion, and these, as all other buildings, in duplicate. 

The policy in building is to complete one-half of the works as soon as 
possible, and thus, as the plans are for works in duplicate, they will be 
ready to run at just half their ultimate capacity while the balance of the 
buildings and plant are being erected. Although material and machinery 
are being received from Great Britain, by far the largest part, even for 
the first half of the works, will be manufactured 011 the grounds and for 
this reason, those buildings first needed for this work are being erected 
and furnished with machinery. Buildings for pattern rooms, blacksmith, 
foundry and machine shops are now up and being supplied with machin¬ 
ery. A small blast furnace is being erected in the foundry and the shop 
will be capable of handling 30-ton castings. The foundry is 160x92 feet ; 
the machine shops 90x60 ; the blacksmith shops 61x40, and the pattern 
department 90x40. 

The large site for the works is almost entirely cleared and the work of 
grading and laying of the foundations for the large furnaces, engines and 
boiler rooms, and Bessemer works is almost completed. The engine 


21 


houses for the blast furnaces will each be 94x40 and each accommodate 
two engines of 84 feet, with a piston stroke of 42x60. The 12 boilers to 
be first put in will be 30 feet in diameter. The cast house will be 160x34 
feet. Provision is made for 12 immense stoves for heating air for the 
blast furnaces, and for numerous large water tanks, to supply the hydraulic 
machinery in the various departments. 

The bunkers for ore and coal are 360 feet long by 42 feet wide and 34 
feet in height. Thirty bents, just one-half of the entire structure are al¬ 
ready up, and will accommodate about 18,000 tons. The bunkers are on 
the best possible plan for convenience with two tracks both above and 
below. 

Directly back of the ore bunkers is another trest'e work, over ore and 
coal bins which will have a capacity of about 50,000 tons and which will 
be used for a reserve stock for any emergency which might arise. Back 
of this trestle work are being constructed 200 coke ovens, which will turn 
out enough coke for one of the large blast furnaces. These ovens will 
be increased to the necessary number by the time the entire works are 
ready for operation. 

The Belt Line Railway runs directly through the works and a network 
of spurs and trestlework is being constructed to lead to the ore and coal 
bunkers and coke ovens. Indeed the construction of the steel works is 
being pushed as rapidly as possible in every direction. The outlay has 
already been enormous, in the neighborhood of $ 1,000,000 having thus 
far been expended by the company. 

I11 conversations with Mr. II. A. Noble and Mr. Peter Kirk, managing 
directors ot the company, those gentlemen said in substance : 

“ The operation of the Kirkland Steel Works will be of much more im¬ 
portance to the development of this region and the state at large, than is 
generally realized. They will produce weekly thousands of tons of the 
finest Bessemer steel by the direct process. The labor this will involve 
in so many directions—in mining coal and iron, coke manufacturing, 
building, transportation, and so on—is enormous. If you thoroughly un¬ 
derstand the magnitude of the works at Kirkland, you will see that there 
alone will be employed more than 2,000 workmen. The institution could 
not possibly be carried on with less than that number. Then there are 
the smaller concerns that will be attracted by the operation of the steel 
works—manufactories which will require iron and steel ; manufactories 
that will require large quantities of both timber and metal. As a result 
of the opening of the works other industries will naturally spring up close 
by, as for instance the manufacture of fire brick, which the steel works 
will inaugurate; the manufacture of lime, cement, mineral paint and 
such products. It will be a good point for tanneries, marble works, flour 
mills and for smelting works for the reduction of precious metal ores. 
Already it has been decided by several companies which are now being 


22 


org a ni z ecl to locate manufactories on the east shores of Lake Washing¬ 
ton. We are not at liberty to give facts and names in connection with 
these enterprises, as of course, for the present these matters are confiden¬ 
tial, but we can state that they will be very extensive, requiring a large 
amount of capital, and will employ hundreds of men.” 

In referring editorially to the arrival of the first cargo of material for 
the Great Western Iron & Steel Works, the Seattle “Post-Intelli¬ 
gencer ” of March 8, ’91, says : 

‘ ‘ It has long been understood that the greatest wealth of Washington lay 
in its vast deposits of iron ore. Great as is its wealth of forests, vast as are 
its beds of coal, rich as are its valleys, the wealth of its iron deposits ex¬ 
ceeds the wealth of all. Only the systematic development of this great 
resource has been needed to make Washington take a place among the 
foremost manufacturing states of the Union: ***** The com¬ 
pletion of the Great Western Iron & Steel Works will revolutionize in¬ 
dustrial conditions in Western Washington. With the various iron- 
w r orkiug industries which will follow the operation of these mills and 
furnaces, iron instead of lumber will become the great product of this re¬ 
gion and labor will find a new and remunerative employment.” 

For wealth of iron, coal and timber, both in quality and quantity, 
Western Washington stands pre-eminent, and when the comparitively 
small area as yet under cultivation is considered the Puget Sound region 
far outstrips, iu agricultural productiveness, any other section of the 
country. These are the fundamental elements necessary for a great man¬ 
ufacturing commonwealth, and when it is added that the climate of the 
region is that best fitted for continued manual labor—an equitable climate 
varying in temperature but a trifle the year round ; plenty of rainfall, but 
evenly distributed, and always a dry, warm harvest time—the conditions 
for material development are perfect. That development has begun and 
its continuance will be rapid. 


23 


ft 


iROfl O^ES. 


. Washington’s deposits of iron ores 
are so extensive as to warrant the 
statement that they are practically in¬ 
exhaustible, and their variety and su¬ 
periority have been proven. Accord¬ 
ing to George A. Bethune, state 
geologist, great quantities of iron ore 
have been found in 21 counties of the 
33 comprising the state. Among the 
varieties of iron ores found in large 
quantities, and which are most adapted 
for the manufacture of first-class iron, 
are the hematite (specular or red iron 
stone, limonite (brown iron stone), 
magnetite (magnetic ore), and bog 
ore. 

Foremost in the list of these ores, as 
to quantity, quality and adaptability, 
are the ores of the Snoqualmie in King 
county. These ores are of the magnetite and hematite varieties, and are 
found on the ridges and peaks of the Cascades about 800 to 1,000 feet 
above the chief water courses at the head waters of the Snoqualmie river. 
The ores lie in pockets of various sizes, and rest on layers of quartzite 
and syenite, being overlaid by limestone. These ores are higher in their 
percentage of metallic iron and lower in phosphorus than any others yet 
discovered. It will thus appear that they are best adapted to the manu¬ 
facture of Bessemer steel, and for this purpose they surpass any ores yet 
discovered, not only in this country but anywhere on the globe. Add to 
this fact the abundance in close proximity of fluxes and fuels—limestone, 
coal and timber—and the great value of these iron deposits is at once ap¬ 
parent. 



24 


















A great deal of development work lias been done on two of the mining 
properties of this section—the Guye mines and the Denny mines—and a 
large force of men are at present engaged in the last named, getting out 
ore for the Great Western Steel Works at Kirkland, as it is expected that by 
fall of 189 r, one or more of the large blast furnaces of those works will 
be ready for operation. These two mines lie about two miles apart, 
above the middle fork of the Snoqualmie, and are about of the same 
character. The Denny mine is close to the line ot the Seattle, Take 
Shore & Eastern railroad which at present is constructed east as far as 
vSalall Prairie, within 20 miles of the mines. President Oakes of the 
Northern Pacific, of which great railroad system the Take Shore is now a 
part, has stated positively that the line will be extended to the mines by 
the time the steel works are ready for the ore. As before stated the 
probabilities are that the line will be extended through the Snoqualmie 
Pass to a junction with the Northern Pacific system east of the Cascades, 
at that time. 

The Denny Mining Company owns about 120 acres, throughout which 
croppings of magnetic ore are abundant. The ore lies in beds 20 to 30 
feet thick and from 70 to 100 feet in extent. Numerous assays of this 
ore have been made, and a comparison shows that they all are superior 
to any other iron ores mined in the United States or elsewhere. The fol¬ 
lowing table gives the average of analyses of five or more samples, from 
reliable authorities : 

ANALYSES OF SNOQUALMIE IRON ORES. 


Mine. 

Variety. 

Authority. 

Metallic 

Iron. 

Silica. 

Sul¬ 

phur. 

Phos¬ 

phorus. 

Denny _ 

Guye 

Average 1 
Snoqualmie j 
Average ^ 

Snoqualmie j 

Magnetite- 

Magnetite- 

Magnetite- 

Hematite_ 

( C. K. Jenner, from Phil- 
\ adelphia chemist.. _ 

Dewey and Kirk _ _ 

f George A. Bethune, 
\ State Geologist 

Peter Kirk __ _ 

69.31 1-6 
69.26 1-5 

67.30 

60.90 

2-47 5-8 

I. 96 

5-21 

II. 77 

0.021 1-3 

0.019 

none. 

0.02 

0.034 i-3 

0.032 

0.04 

trace. 


Comparing these results with averages of analyses of the best steel ores 
in the United States it is found that the Snoqualmie ores head the list in 
point of excellence, as the following table will demonstrate. The first is 
an average of the three averages of magnetite ores given in the preceding 
table; the second is an average of “the best steel ores of the United 
States,” reported in 1885 by Mr. Phineas Barnes ; the third is an average 
of Lake Superior steel ores, given by W. H. Ruffner, LL. D.; and the 
fourth is an average of ores from the Iron Mountain, Missouri: 


25 































ANALYSES OE STEEL ORES. 


Name. 

Metallic 

Iron. 

Silica. 

Sulphur. 

Phos¬ 

phorus. 

Snoqualmie _ __ 

Average Ore of United States _ 

I,ake Superior 

68.62 4-9 
59-24 2-3 
68.48 

65-50 

3-215 

6.17 2-3 
2.07 

5-75 

0.013 4-9 
0.20 2-3 

0.035 4-9 
0.03 2-3 
0.053 
0.040 

Iron Mountain __ _ _ _ 

0.016 


The adaptability of the Snoqualmie ores for producing the best Bes¬ 
semer steel is thus beyoud question, but that is not the only advantage 
for the manufacture of iron and steel which this region possesses. In 
liis report of the iron trade of 1886, Mr. Swank says : “It is also a fact 
worthy of notice, for which geologists may find a reason, that nowhere 
in this country are our best steel making ores found in proximity to min¬ 
eral fuel, either anthracite or bituminous, while in some parts of the Lake 
Superior region, even timber suitable for the manufacture of charcoal is 
almost wholly wanting.” This statement was made before the value of 
the Washington iron and coal deposits was realized. It is, perhaps, still 
true in the main, but the Cascade mineral region is a notable exception. 
Here are found the best steel ores, both kinds of fuel in limitless quanti¬ 
ties, and plenty of the finest limestone for flux, all in close proximity. 
In other sections ore, fuel and flux travel hundreds of miles to meet each 
other ; here they are found side by side, practically. It is estimated and 
confidently expected by the Kirkland Steel Works people that this will 
result in a saving of nearly 30 per cent, in the cost of manufacturing over 
that of any other mill in the country. 

King county is not alone in its wealth of superior steel ores. Along 
the northern line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad are being 
worked numerous mines which promise to yield ore nearly equal to that 
of the Snoqualmie. The brown hematite of the Hamilton mines in Skagit 
county are especially fine, and too, the red hematite of Whatcom county. 
A high grade bog ore is also found in all the counties bordering on Puget 
Sound. Large deposits of fine ore have also been opened up in Kitsap, 
Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston and other counties, both east and west of 
the sound and on both sides of the Cascades. Lake Washington is in the 
center of this great mineral state and to her shores from the east, west, 
north and south can most readily be brought together for manufacture 
and reshipment the ores of the entire region. 


26 































EXTENSIVE COHIi piELiDS. 


Underlying the entire 
Cascade region of the state 
of Washington and cropping 
out at the surface in innumer¬ 
able localities, are vast beds 
of coal, varying in thickness 
of strata from a mere trace 
to seams eight to sixteen 
feet in thickness, and differ¬ 
ing in quality from low grade 
brown lignites to fine bitu¬ 
minous coking coals and hard 
free-burning anthracite. As 
with iron ores, so with the coal deposits of the state—they are more 
varied in character and more extensive ; more easily mined, and in some 
respects more valuable, as a whole, than those of any other section of the 
country. The development of Washington’s coal mines has but just 
begun, in reality, though during the past few years millions of tons have 
been mined, and already the entire Pacific coast is looking to the Ever¬ 
green state for fuel supply. The coal output of the state is increasing 
very rapidly, the increase in 1890 being nearly one-half of the output of 
1889. The figures are : for 1889, 911,527 tons ; for 1890, 1,349,773 ; in¬ 
crease, 438,246. There is no doubt that 1891 will see an even greater per¬ 
centage of increase, as vast beds in different parts of the state are con¬ 
tinually coming to light, and they, with others already located, will be 
developed, while the opening of new railway lines, many but just com¬ 
pleted, and others soon to be, will afford the necessary transportation 
facilities for this new output. At present the Pacific coast market is 
supplied with coal from Nanaimo in British Columbia and from Australia, 
but these coals are being rapidly supplanted by the Washington product, 
much of which is of superior qualities. Hitherto the mines of Washing¬ 
ton have been unable to meet the demand made upon them, and there is 
not much doubt that it will be some time before they will be able to, 
as, though their yield is steadily increasing, the increase in demand is 
even greater. 

The coal mines of King county lead those of other sections of the state, 
both in extent, quality and development, their output for 1890 being 
greater than those of any other section. The coal fields of the country 



27 








« 


lie along the eastern portion, from north to south, in the foothills of the 
Cascades. They might be divided into three groups—the Snoqualmie, 
Raging River and Sammamish or Squak ; the Cedar River or Coal Creek, 
and the Green River. Many good properties in these groups have not 
yet been developed, ’notably the Raging River mines, which, however, 
are now being opened up, and a spur from the Northern Pacific main 
line is being built from Common Point along the Raging River to the 
mines. The Snoqualmie Coal and Coke Company have also opened a 
vein and are now developing what has turned out to be a good property, 
near Snoqualmie, about a mile from the Seattle, Rake Shore & Eastern 
Railroad, and a spur from that railway will be immediately built to the 
mine. John Kangley & Co. have just commenced active operations on a 
mine near the Northern Pacific line, on the western slope of the Cascades, 
which was first opened in May of 1890. The coal is a black bituminous, 
firm and free burning, and from tests shows very good coke. The mines 
of King county now in operation, and constantly increasing their output, 
are as follows : Newcastle or Coal Creek, east of the southern end of 
Lake Washington and near the Belt Line Railway, on Cedar River ; 
Cedar Mountain, Black Diamond, Franklin and Fulton, in the Green 
River district, which extends for 25 miles southeast from the foot of 
Lake Washington ; and the Gilman mines, near the foot of Sammamish 
Lake, on the line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railway. The 
Green River mines are reached by the Columbia & Puget Sound rail¬ 
way, which connects with the Lake Washington Belt Line at both Renton 
and Black River Junction. 

It will thus be seen that by the Belt Line the eastern shore of Lake 
Washington is practically made the transportation center of the entire 
coal region of King county, and by its connection with the main line of 
the Northern Pacific on the south and with the Lake Shore road on the 
north, it is also the center of the vast coal fields of the entire state. A 
glance at any good map of the state will cjearly demonstrate this. 

Following is a statement of the output of the mines of King county 
and of those of the entire state, for 1890: 

OUTPUT OF COAT FOR 1 890. 


ENTIRE STATE OF WASHINGTON. TONS. 

King County Mines_ 488,306 

Roslyn, Kittitas County_ 419,471 

Pierce County Mines_ 403,354 

Bucoda, Thurston County_ 38,642 

_ * Total, 1890-U 349-773 

Output, 1889- 911,527 

Increase-438,246 


East of the Cascades the mines which have been opened up and worked 
extensively are those at Roslyn, 20 miles from the Summit on the line of 


KING COUNTY MINES. TONS. 

Newcastle, or Coal Creek- 159,524 

Cedar Mountain_ 21,740 

Black Diamond- 173,024 

Franklin and Fulton_ 63,779 

Gilman- 70,23 9 

Total, 1890- 488,306 

Output, 1889- 391,183 


Increase_ 97,123 


N 


28 


































the Northern Pacific. The coal is a black, firm, free-burning bituminous, 
and is a good coking coal. Good coal beds are now being developed on 
the upper Yakima and near Ellensburg. 

Charles C. Woodhouse, a coal expert of well known standing, divides 
the coal fields of Western Washington into six groups, as follows : 
King county, or Green River ; Wilkeson, Pierce county ; Bucoda, Thurs¬ 
ton county; Cowlitz, Lewis county ; Skagit River, Skagit county ; Bell¬ 
ingham Bay, Whatcom county. Speaking of the King county mines, 
he says: 

“ This field is very extensive. The coal ranges in quality from bitu¬ 
minous lignite to heavy bituminous coking coal. It is found in inex¬ 
haustible quantities, comes out of the mines in uniform sized pieces for 
use, is hard and clean, bunks and carries without waste and is an excel¬ 
lent domestic and steam coal. There is very much of this valuable coal 
land undeveloped.” 

The Wilkeson district begins near South Prairie on the Northern 
Pacific railroad, is about five miles wide, east and west, and extends 30 
miles south to the Nesqually river in Suckitash valley. Of the coal of 
this district Mr. Woodhouse says: “The lower measures yield a heavy 
bituminous coal which makes a strong, compact, sonorous coke, the best, 
without question that can be produced from any coal in America west of 
Pennsylvania. The coal from this district, like all of the heavy bitumin¬ 
ous coals in the state, has the pleasing advantage of being suitable for all 
uses, domestic, steam, blacksmithing, coke, etc. It is high in fixed 
carbon and rich in hydrocarbon gas, is very lasting and evolves great 
heat.” 

The Bucoda district extends from Tenino on the Northern Pacific south 
to the Columbia river, and east and west from the foot of the Cascades to 
the coast range, embracing a territory about 50 by 60 miles. The out¬ 
croppings for the most part show but a fair grade of lignite, though there 
are many discoveries of good bituminous veins, and prospectors claim 
locations of good anthracite in the Chehalis valley. 

Two very good coal properties are now being worked in the Skagit 
River district, both near Hamilton, about 30 miles up the river, on the 
Seattle & Northern, about 12 miles east of Sedro on the Seattle, Lake 
Shore & Eastern. On the north side of the river are the Skagit Coal 
Company’s mines and on the south side are those of the Cumberland 
Coal Company. This coal is a strong bituminous, and good coking 
article. Several prospectors claim they have located anthracite veins in 
Skagit county, which are as yet remote from transportation facilities. A 
bed of good bituminous coal, recently discovered, six miles from Stan- 
wood, in Skagit county, is now being opened up. 

The Bellingham Bay district alluded to by Mr. Woodhouse, has never 
produced anything but a fair grade of lignite, and owing to seepage 


29 


from the bay, the mines, which were opened up several years ago, have 
been abandoned. But there have been discovered in Whatcom county, 
near the southern end of Lake Whatcom, and six miles west of the 
south fork of the Nooksack river, extensive beds of a heavy bituminous 
coal, which for general purposes and for coking is equal if not superior to 
anything yet discovered in the state, or on the Pacific Coast. J. F. 
Wardner, J. F. McNaught and others have organized a company for the 
working of this field, now known as the Blue Canyon mines. In January, 
1891, a contract w r as entered into by the company with the Northern 
Pacific, which provides that that railway shall handle the output of the 
mines, and construction of a spur from the Lake Shore & Eastern, only 
four miles distant, was begun, and is now being completed, the Blue 
Canyon Company agreeing that the output should be 100 tons per day 
from the start. Work 011 the mines was also immediately begun, ma¬ 
chinery put in, shafts sunk and a great deal of coal gotten out. So 
soon as the railway is completed a large force of men will be employed. 
The coal lies in three distinct measures, all of the same character and 
easily worked. The largest vein shows 16 feet of solid coal between walls. 
These mines will undoubtedly add very largely to Washington’s coal out¬ 
put. Their product will be shipped by water from Anacortes and by rail 
over the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern and the Lake Washington Belt 
Line. Prospectors who state that they are not yet ready to make their 
discoveries public, claim to have located anthracite coal veins in the 
Nooksack country. 

The Cowlitz coal fields are on the headwaters of the Cowlitz river, 
near the pass through the Cascades. The coal is a hard, lustrous, free- 
burning anthracite. There are exposed twelve veins carrying from two 
to eighteen feet in width, between sandstone walls. But little develop¬ 
ment work has been done on them, owing to their distance from trans¬ 
portation facilities. 

Anthracite coals of Washington differ from those of Pennsylvania in 
that they are the outcome of deposits of vegetation of the cretaceous 
period, much less remote than the carboniferous period, during which 
the foundations for the coal of Pennsylvania w r ere laid, and so have been 
subjected to less heat and pressure, and too, are from a different class 
of vegetation. The Washington coal contains about 6 per cent, less fixed 
carbon than the Pennsylvania coal, with 1.5 per cent, more gas and 4 per 
cent, more ash. The difference in value therefore is but a trifle. 

Following is a table of assays of the different coals from the more 
prominent mines and coal fields of the state, made by well-knowm 
authorities. They vary as to method of analysis, and as a consequence 
of that, and because of difference in specimens treated, also vary in result. 
The showing is a good one, and demonstrates the variety .of the coals 
found in the State : 


30 


ANALYSES OE WASHINGTON COATS. 


Coal. 


Raging River, King Co. 

Green River, King Co_ 

Newacstle, King Co_ 

Newcastle, King Co_ 

Green River, King Co_ 

Black Diamond, King Co 

Snoqualmie, King Co_ 

Gilman, King Co_ 

Wilkeson, Pierce Co_ 

Wilkeson, Pierce Co_ 

Skagit River, Skagit Co, 
Skagit River, Skagit Co, 
Blue Canyon, Whatcom 

Co._ 

Cowlitz (Anthracite) 

Lewis Co_ 

Roslyn, Kittitas Co_ 


Authority. 

Vola¬ 

tile. 

Sul¬ 

phur. 

Water. 

Fixed 

Carbon 

Ash. 

Company’s report_ 

34-12 

0-33 

3-92 

60,53 

1.10 

C. C. Woodhouse_ 

20.90 


1.40 

68.40 

9-30 

Geo. A. Bethune 

46.70 

0.18 

2.12 

43-90 

7- I 5 

Bailey Willis, _ 

44.84. 


4.16 

43.86 

7.14 

Bailey Willis__ _ 

4 s.71 


2 .SO 

48.37 

S .42 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

47.19 

0.01 

3 -H 

45 -H 

4-58 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

34.28 

0.19 

3 - 9 ° 

60.53 

X. 10 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

47.07 

0.88 

4.80 

37-19 

10.06 

Bailey Willis __ 

25.88 



60.67 

12.12 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

25-88 

trace 

i -33 

66.75 

6.04 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

18.80 

trace 

1.19 

71.66 

8.35 

Prof. Price 

19.38 


0.47 

68.30 

11.85 

S. G. Dewsnap 

29.55 



65.48 

4-97 

C. C. Woodhouse_ 

7.70 


0.70 

82.10 

9-50 

Geo. A. Bethune_ 

39-70 

trace 

3.10 

52.65 

4 55 


But very little coke has yet been manufactured in the state, notwith¬ 
standing the abundance of superior coking coals. The reason for this is 
two-fold. It is but a short time ago that the extent and character of the 
coal beds were practically unknown, and but recently that railways were 
built and development begun. The home demand for coke has been 
small and outside markets unacquainted with its value. All this is now 
changing, development of the mines is progressing, railways being mul¬ 
tiplied, the establishment of manufactories is creating a demand for good 
coke at home, and already it is being shipped out of the state. Coke 
ovens have been built by two companies in King county, two ill Pierce 
and one in Skagit, and the Kirkland Steel Works will themselves manu¬ 
facture the enormous quantity of coke necessary for the running of their 
four great blast furnaces east of Lake Washington. 

The following table gives analyses of different cokes manufactured 
from Washington coal, and shows how they compare with the best cokes 
of Pennsylvania and England : 

CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF COKES. 


I 


Coal 

Manufactured From 

Combusti¬ 

ble 

Carbon. 

Ash. 

Sul¬ 

phur. 

Phos¬ 

phorus. 

Raging River, King County _ 

97.90 

1.76 

0.31 

0.105 

Green River, King County — 

9^-93 

1.81 

0.26 

trace 

Wilkeson, Pierce County 

Skagit River, Skagit County 

98.63 

88.21 

1.23 

11.23 

0.13 

0.56 

0.01 

Alleghany, Blair County, Pa _ 

87.58 

11.36 

1.06 


Connelsville, Pa 

S 9-576 

9 -ii 3 

0.821 

0.100 

Durham, England- 

93-41 

5-30 

0.91 



W’ater. 

Volatile 

Hydro¬ 

carbon. 











0.030 

0.38 

0.460 


* 


A test of Blue Canyon coal gave 61.17 per cent, of coke, which is 1 
per cent, higher than obtained from the famous Connelsville, Pa., coal. 

It will be admitted that the coals of Washington will play a powerful 
part in the development of the new state, and their proximity to the iron 
ores renders both doubly valuable. 


3 1 






































































MMESTONE, JVIARBUE flflD GRANITE. 


Deposits of limestone 
of s up e rio r qu a 1 ity, 
throughout the state of 
Washington, are pheno¬ 
menal in their extent. As 
before stated, this wealth 
of limestone is the third 
great factor which will 
make of Washington a 
great iron and steel pro¬ 
ducing state, lying as it 
does so close to the ex¬ 
tensive ore beds and coal 
fields, convenient to be 
manufactured into lime for use as a flux in smelting. Prominent among 
the counties west of the Cascades in which limestone deposits are very 
extensive are King, Pierce, Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan and Island 
counties. Of the quality of the limestone of the state, Geo. A. Bethune, 
state geologist, says: “I have demonstrated beyond a doubt to myself 
that nearly every known limestone deposit thus far discovered will make 
a quality of lime unexcelled.” Among several analyses of limestone 
given by Mr. Bethune, that of the Snoqualmie valley, King county, 
stands at the head in percentage of carbonate of lime, as follows : Sno- 
qualmie stone, 98.34 per cent.; Roche Harbor, 98.21 ; Okanogan, 97.13 ; 
Skagit county, 96.50 ; Stevens county, 98. 

Throughout the Snoqualmie valley and at the headwaters in the 
Cascades are extensive ledges of every variety of limestone. I11 color 
the stone ranges from almost white to dark blue, and in texture is some¬ 
times very fine grained, and in some ledges is crystalized into a beautiful 
marble. Mt. Dogan, above the Guye iron mines, is one vast rock of 
limestone, and above the iron ore deposits of the Denny mines are great 
ledges of limestone. 

3 2 

















It is only during the past five years that the manufacture of lime in 
the state of Washington has been carried on extensively, and now the 
largest output is from the kilns of the islands of San Juan county, one 
company at Roche harbor turning out 1,000 barrels per day the year 
round. Various companies have recently been formed in different parts 
of the state, to develop quarries, and now that railroad facilities are in¬ 
creased and still increasing different properties, notably those of the 
Snoqualmie valley, will be worked. During 1890 there was manufactured 
in the state 925,750 barrels of lime, worth $1,157,186. A great deal of 
this was shipped to British Columbia, Oregon and California, and the 
demand is increasing more rapidly than the supply. 

These limestones of the Snoqualmie valley will not only come into use 
for iron manufacture and for lime to be used as a building material, but 
the field is too valuable to long remain untaken by manufactories of 
various valuable chemicals, such as caustic soda, calcium, etc. The 
materials for the manufacture of Portland cement are also abundant and 
of the best. State Geologist Bethune gives the following analyses of a 
very superior quality of Portland cement manufactured from Washing¬ 
ton limestone and clay : 

ANALYSES OF WASHINGTON PORTLAND CFMFNT. 


Silica 
and Clay. 

Alumina 

Oxide. 

Ferric 

Oxide. 

Time. 

Magnesia 

Potash. 

Soda. 

27.16 

9-30 

2.20 

52.30 

5-67 

0.97 

2.40 

25-19 

11.40 

3.02 

53-78 

4.28 

0-43 

1.90 


The marbles of Snoqualmie valley and of the Skagit valley are remark¬ 
ably fine, of close texture, of many different colors from a fine white to 
grey, and black and white mottled, and compare very favorably with 
Italian and Vermont marbles. Many varieties are very beautiful, are of 
fine grain and great strength and admit of a high polish. Their value 
for architecture and sculpture has already been demonstrated, and the 
time can not be far in the future when the stone will be extensively 
quarried and large marble works established in the vicinity of Rake Wash¬ 
ington and the Belt Dine railway. 

Close grained granites, free from sand streaks, of many varieties, and 
capable of a high polish, are found, not only in the territory immediately 
on the lines of the Northern Pacific, Lake Shore & Eastern and close to 
Dake Washington and the Belt Dine, but in almost every section of the 
state, and many quarries have recently been opened. 




33 

























m 


Sturdy sandstones of many different colors from a rich buff or bluish 
grey to olive green are abundant, and have been used during the past 
few years for building business blocks in the various cities of the state. 

While speaking of stone and building material, it may not be out of 
order to refer to the many varieties of manufacturing clays found in the 
state, and especially in King county and the region directly east and 
south of Lake Washington. Reference has already been made to the 
value of these clays for the manufacture of cement and for the making of 
fire brick, for which latter purpose they will be used at the works of the 
Great Western Iron and Steel Company, on the eastern shores of Lake 
Washington. Extensive beds of a superior quality of clay for the man¬ 
ufacture of fire brick are found throughout the coal fields of King county. 
An analysis, made by George A. Bethune, of clay from the Black Dia¬ 
mond beds stood 2,760 F. before fusing, and another from the Green 
River beds stood 2,831 F. They were as follows : 


ANALYSIS OF FIRF CLAYS. 



Silica 

| 

1 Alumina __ 

hH 

►i 

O 

►-* 

M 

O 

pi 

rt> 

Lime _ . 

Magnesia _ 

Alkalies— 

Water_ 

Potash_ 

Soda _ _ 

S.-o* 

LL c/i 

O ^ 

-O' 

1 V! 

1 M 

! »? 

Black Diamond 

Green River — 

57-50 

69.71 

34-37 

18.39 

I.24 

1.44 

0.50 

o-35 

1.00 

0.15 

0.68 | 4.71 

0.19 

1 fO 

1 CO 

! 0 

8-94 


Speaking of the abundance and variety of clays found in this region 
Mr. Bethune says in his last report: “Among the most important I may 
mention clay for brick, both pressed and rough ; clay eminently suited 
for the making of fire brick ; clay suitable to undergo the treatment of 
the potter ; clay demonstrated to be the very best for moulding into build¬ 
ing ornamention ; clay that may be transformed into porcelain and such 
ware, which I know from personal investigation will equal the famed 
wares of the Japanese and English in quality ; clays for stone ware are 
as good, and from what I have read, far more plentiful than any deposit 
elsewhere on this continent or in Europe.” 

During 1890 there was manufactured in King county brick, tile and 
pipe to the value of about $700,000. The manufacture of clays into 
merchantable articles of every variety, will undoubtedly grow to large 
proportions during the next few years, and it is fair to suppose that most 
of this manufacturing will be done close to the source of supply of mate¬ 
rial and fuel, and where transportation facilities are most advantage¬ 
ous—along the eastern shores of Lake Washington. 

It may not be out of place to refer here to other valuable mineral de¬ 
posits of the region, extended mention of which cannot be made, but 
which will figure largely in the manufacturing interests of the immediate 

34 
































future, offering as they do cheap raw material for the manufacture of a 
variety of articles of commerce. Of the precious metals, silver and gold, 
particular mention will be made, head is abundant in the Snoqualmie 
country and all through the Cascade range, being found mostly in veins 
that carry a percentage of gold or silver or both. Copper veins have 
been located at many different points, but little development work has 
yet been done. In January, 1891, several locations on valuable copper 
deposits were made in the Cle-Elum district, near the line of the North¬ 
ern Pacific, just east of the mountains. These mines will be developed im¬ 
mediately. 

Asbestos has been recently discovered in several localities, and from 
deposits near Hamilton on the south side of the Skagit, a large quantity 
of this fire proof substance has been taken and shipped for use in the 
manufacture of fire proof paint. It is of superior quality, the fibres as 
firm as flax and easily separated. Deposits in other localities promise to 
be equally good. 

Graphite of a good quality has been discovered in different localities. 
Nickel ores have been located in King, Snohomish, Skagit and Clallam 
counties. Mica, molybdenite, chrome iron and yellow ochre have all 
been discovered in the Cascade range, and evidences of tin and zinc. In 
juxtaposition with other minerals and natural substances are found bis¬ 
muth, manganese, magnesia, sulphur, aluminum, arsenic and mercury. 

With all this mineral wealth within easy reach of the eastern shores of 
Lake Washington, and with such a wide territory the resources of which 
will naturally gravitate to that point for manufacture, it has come to be 
a generally accepted fact that as development progresses large and small 
manufactories of every description will follow the example of the Great 
Western Iron and Steel Company, and locate in the neighborhood of the 
lake on the line of the Lake Washington railway. 



35 







THE PRECIOUS mETflLlS. 


In discussing the “min¬ 
eral wealth ” of any par¬ 
ticular country or region, 
one is prone to think first 
of, and dwell most, upon 
the deposits of gold and 
silver found within its 
borders. The order has 
been here reversed, and 
purposely. Mining for 
gold has been carried on 
in Washington for the 
past quarter of a century, 
and for the past few years 
much attention has been 
given to rich silver mines, 
and three large smelters and many “ stamp mills ” are now in operation 
throughout the state. New locations are constantly being made on gold 
and silver bearing leads, and mining for the precious metals bids fair to 
assume within the next few years, phenomenal proportions, and place 
Washington in the front rank of those states in the Union which produce 
large outputs of the precious metals. Yet, notwithstanding all this 
Washington’s wealth of gold and silver is not and will not be the greatest 
factor in her up-building. She is pre-eminently a manufacturing and 
commercial state, and as such will soon outstrip many others and equal 
any of her older sisters in the Bast. Her supremacy on the Pacific Coast 
is already assured. 

The first discovery of gold north of California was made in Washing¬ 
ton in the year 1859 by members of the international boundary commis¬ 
sion, on the Similkameen river in what is now known as Okanogan 

36 

































County. Thousands of miners soon flocked to these rich placer diggings 
and then deserted them for the fresh excitement of the Frazier. The first 
placer discovery west of the Cascades was made in 1878, 011 Ruby creek at 
the headwaters of the Skagit. In 1874 the rich Squak placers in Kittitas 
county were discovered and three years later the Peschastin placers in 
the same district. In 1881 the Cle-Elum diggings were discovered and in 
1885 George Runnels located many new and rich placers in the Okano¬ 
gan country. New placer deposits are constantly being discovered, and 
the old seem to be renewed by the winter freshets every year, for all 
those mentioned are still yielding large returns to the miners. 

It w 7 as in July of 1871 that the first discovery of quartz, bearing precious 
metals, was made by H. F. Smith and party in the “ Moses Reservation,” 
now Okanogan county. All miners, however, were driven out of the 
reservation and not allowed to enter again until it w r as restored to the public 
domain May 5, 18S6. I11 1873 gold and silver bearing quartz was discov¬ 

ered in Snohomish county, in what is now the famous Silver Creek min¬ 
ing district. In 1878 C. P. Culver discovered gold quartz in the Peschas¬ 
tin district, and the first stamp mill in the state was put in at those mines. 
In 1881 ore was discovered in the Cle-Hlum district and in 1883 the first 
locations were made in the now famous Colville district. I11 1887 occurred 
the great rush to the “ Okanogan Country ” and to-day many rich mines 
are being worked on the “ Moses Reservation,” and there have been more 
than 2,500 mineral claims filed, and eight different mining districts are al¬ 
ready organized. In Stevens county there are three mineral districts, 
the Colville, Chewalah and Metaliue. The Cle-Elum and Peschastin dis¬ 
tricts are both in Kittitas county. In Western Washington, along the 
Cascade mountains is a vast deposit of gold and silver ores extending from 
the Snoqualinie valley to Mt. Baker, a distance of over one hundred miles. 
Up to 1890 very few discoveries had been made along this line, but in the 
summer and fall of that year hundreds of prospectors were in the field and 
the extent and richness of their discoveries came as a surprise to the public 
generally. This extensive mineral belt is divided into districts as follows : 
Snoqualinie, King county ; Silver Creek, Monte Christo and Sultan River, 
Snohomish county, and the Cascade district in Skagit county. It was in the 
last named district that the Boston mine was located and in the summer of 
1890, sold by J. F. Wardner, the well known Couer d’Alene miner, to Butte 
captalists for $ 150,000. The ores of all these districts are of much the same 
formation, being a galena carrying silver and gold mixed with iron or 
copper pyrites. Assays made, run all the way from 47 ounces silver 
and 58 per cent, lead to 150 ounces silver and 60 per cent. lead. Ore from 
one of the claims in the Snoqualinie assays as high as $150 in gold. Sev¬ 
eral prospects show from $15 to $24 in gold. On some of these new and 
promising mines but little development work has been done, but upon 
others good progress has been made and thousands of dollars worth of 


37 


ore lies upon the dumps with many thousands more in sight. The ore 
from the mines in Eastern Washington has heretofore been shipped to 
smelters at Spokane, Denver or Butte. But this cannot be done with ores 
from Western Washington. It will have to be reduced nearer home. The 
summer of 1891 will see the beginning of the systematic working of these 
mines, which for years to come must employ thousands of men. The re¬ 
ducing of the ores will employ as many more. The eastern branch of the 
Take Shore & Eastern Railway taps the Snoqualmie district, a railway is 
already surveyed by the Northern Pacific which will reach from the Take 
Shore road into the Silver Creek, Monte Christo and Sultan River dis¬ 
tricts, the Seattle & Northern which drains the Skagit valley to the Rake 
Shore road is now being completed and will naturally afford transporta¬ 
tion for the ores of the Cascade district. The entire mineral ^district of 
Western Washington will be thus easily tributary to the Belt Line, and 
ores from the different districts can be brought to smelters located along 
the eastern shores of Lake Washington. Projects to build smelters in 
that neighborhood are now on foot, and their building cannot be delayed 
for long. In conjunction with the establishment and working of smelt¬ 
ers, works for the manufacture of white lead, lead pipe, etc., will of course 
be erected, to utilize the lead product of the silver ores, and these manu- 
facturies will supply employment for many workmen. 



38 










TimBEF{ Op THE SHOQOfllimiE. 


The statement lias been made 
that there is more standing timber 
on the western slopes of the Cas¬ 
cades in the Puget Sound country 
than would be necessary to supply 
the demand of the whole world for 
lumber during the next ioo years. 
Preposterous as this statement may 
seem, it is not looked upon as an 
exaggeration by those acquainted 
with the wonderful growth and vast 
extent of the forests of Western 
Washington. 

The lumber industry has been 
the chief support of commerce and 
trade of the infant state of Wash¬ 
ington, and although millions of 
feet of timber has been cut, as yet her forests have, comparatively speak¬ 
ing, scarcely been disturbed, excepting along the shores of the sound 
and along the chief waterways, and in some sections along the railway 
lines. According to carefully compiled statistics by the Seattle “Post- 
Intelligencer” the total output of all mills in the state for 1890 was 
1,222,830,042 feet, of which 779, 330,042 feet was the output of Puget 
Sound mills. The value of this output, including spars, piles, shingles, 
laths, pickets, etc., w T as about $15,000,000. Of this, $1,324,600 worth 
was exported to foreign countries, and yet the supply was not equal to 
the demand, which is increasing rapidly from year to year. This foreign 
shipment is made to countries in every section of the globe, though Aus¬ 
tralia takes the largest share. Wherever it goes the demand immedi¬ 
ately increases there. A great deal of it has been shipped to eastern 
states, competing with the home product of those states. The larger por¬ 
tion, however, has been used at home, in building the rapidly growing 
cities and railroads of the state. 

For a combination of extent in area, largeness and number of trees and 
diversity of growth, the forests of Western Washington are not equaled 



39 
























anywhere else on the globe, and at the head of them all are the forests of 
the Snoqualmie valley in King county, really tributary to Lake Wash¬ 
ington, and those of the Skagit valley in Skagit county. 

King county has an area of about 1,082,000 acres and it is estimated 
that fully one-half of this is covered with forests of heavy timber yet un¬ 
touched. A single tree of Douglas fir from this section has been known 
to yield 20,000 feet of lumber. That of course is an exception, but it is 
not uncommon for a single acre to yield 90,000 feet. Placing the average 
per acre at 35,000 feet, it will be seen that there is standing in King 
county at least 18,935,000,000 feet of timber. This is, however, far below 
the actual. The first saw mill in King county was built in 1852 and since 
that time the growth of the lumber industry has been steady till in 1890 
more than 250,000,000 feet of lumber was cut by the scores of mills in the 
county, giving employment to thousands of men and paying for labor in 
the neighborhood of $3,000,000. This lumber industry is carried on 
steadily the year round. 

More than one-third of the trees in the forests of the Snoqualmie, as in¬ 
deed all through Western Washington, are the great Douglas firs, or 
“Oregon Pine,” as they are best known. Red and yellow cedar, hem¬ 
lock, cottonwood, oak, ash, maple and alder are abundant, and some of 
the cedars rival in size the largest of the giant Douglas firs. Indeed, all 
vegetation in these forests attains phenomenal size. Mosses of every 
variety form heavy carpets on the ground and hang from the trees in great 
bunches yards in length ; the ferns grow to great bushes seven and eight 
feet high, and the alder which, in the Alleghanies is little more than a 
shrub, is here a good sized tree over thirty feet in height. The ground 
when cleared yields with the same generosity, and crops from orchards 
and farms are enormous. 

The timber from these forests of fir and cedar is now acknowledged to 
be better adapted for heavy construction work than any other iii the coun_ 
try, and for ornamental work and fine finishing, the cedar, maple, oak 
and ash cannot be surpassed. The quantity and quality of material for 
all sorts of wood work manufacturing and for the making of all imple¬ 
ments and articles, either useful or ornamental or both, requiring both 
wood and metal for their manufacture, is so great and good in the region 
close to Rake Washington and along the lines of railway converging 
toward the eastern shores of the lake, that the field for manufacturing; 
is already being occupied, and as previously stated, capital has been ap¬ 
propriated for various enterprises which will be set in motion so soon as 
the Great Western Iron and Steel Works are in operation, some of them 
even before that time. There is, in fact, no question but that the next 
few years will see many large manufactories established, one after an¬ 
other in rapid succession, both at Kirkland and other points along the 
line of the Take Washington Belt Dine Railway. 


40 


HGHlCOljTU^flli PRODUCTS. 


In considering the advantages of a 
location for large manufacturing oper¬ 
ations one of the chief points taken 
into account is the ability of the re¬ 
gion or tributary region, to supply 
ample sustenance for a large popula¬ 
tion, and to do it cheaply. As in all 
other lines the agricultural develop¬ 
ment of Western Washington has 
really but just begun. There are 
many fertile valleys that have for 
years been tilled, yielding large crops, 
and are as fertile now as when first 
cultivated. The survey of lands and 
the opening of new railway lines are 
fast increasing the area of cultivated 
lands of this character, and the clear¬ 
ing of the forests from the up lands 
in many sections is also adding many 
fine farms and orchards to the older ones of the state, but still the yearly 
agricultural production is small compared to what it promises to become. 

There are few products of a temperate climate that cannot be grown in 
the Puget Sound country to yield big crops. Owing to the cool nights 
and absence of very warm weather corn will not mature, but that is the 
only product of importance that does not grow well west of the Cascades. 
To those who have not seen the crops growing and witnessed the harvest 
the relation of facts in regard to the yield of the majority of lands in 
Western Washington, seems the wildest exaggeration, or at best, merely 
statements of rare and exceptional cases. The crops of Western Wash¬ 
ington are marvelous. Oats yield from 75 to 140 bushels per acre ; 



4i 







potatoes from 300 to 400 bushels per acre ; hay from 3 to 5 tons per acre ; 
carrots, turnips, onions, and. in fact roots and vegetables of all descriptions 
yield exceptionally large crops. Fruits grown on the up lands are very 
prolific, and all varieties known to a temperate climate can be produced 
—apples, pears, plums, prunes and berries of all kinds. Orchards pay 
the farmer from $200 to $300 per acre. Nowhere is there a region that 
offers, as does Western Washington, both the facilities for a great manu¬ 
facturing commonwealth, and for an abundant and cheap food supply 
for its population. Western Washington is known the world over as the 
finest hop growing section of the globe, the product being superior and 
the yield larger than elsewhere. The largest hop ranch in the world is 
in Snoqualmie Valley, which is one of the most fertile in the state. 
From east of the mountains ; from the great Columbia plain—the wheat 
supply is already far beyond the needs of a great state. It is the most 
prolific wheat producing region in the Union, and the area of its culti¬ 
vated fields and its output of grain is being rapidly increased. So great 
was the yield for 1890 that millions of bushels were tied up, for lack of 
adequate transportation facilities, and the end of June, 1891, will scarcely 
see it disposed of. Conservative estimates place the surplus for export at 
not less than 13,000,000 bushels. The surplus wheat of Washington has 
been exported mostly by way of the Columbia river and Portland, but 
with the opening of the railways throughout the state, and the rapid in¬ 
crease in yield, is coming a change, and now large shipments are made 
by the way of Puget Sound. With the opening of the ship canal to 
Fake Washington, the bulk of wheat shipments will necessarily be made 
from the eastern shores of that body of water, and large flour mills and 
grain elevators will be added to the manufactories at that point, for the 
same reasons that make it the most advantageous point to which and 
from which can be shipped the coal, iron, timber and other products and 
manufactures of the state. In this connection, the Seattle Chamber of 
Commerce, through a committee, have made an important and concise 
statement of facts, as what follows will show. 


42 


COjWIVIE^CIflli i^EY Op THE STATE. 


The board of army 
engineers appointed 
by Congress to make 
the survey for the 
canal from the sound 
to Take Washington, 
applied to the Cham¬ 
ber of Commerce of 
Seattle for a statement 
of the benefits to be 
derived from the canal. 
A committee of the 
chamber, consisting 
of Judge Thomas Burke, Jacob Furth and Colonel C. M. Sheafe, filed 
with the board a preliminary statement to be followed by a more vol¬ 
uminous and detailed report. After giving reason! why a fine fresh 
water harbor would greatly benefit the commerce of the state, as out¬ 
lined in a previous chapter of this work, the committee continues : 

“If a canal were constructed in Take Washington, it is pretty safe to 
say that nearly all of the wheat and coal shipments of the state would be 
from the lake. This would be so from the very small cost of handling 
such products for the reasons above stated, and because it is easier for all 
of the railroads to reach the waters of the lake than it is to reach the 
waters of the sound. As a matter of fact, all the existing railroads in the 
state have either by themselves or by rail connections direct contact with 
the shores of the lake. The amount of coal shipped now from the sound, 
mainly from King and Pierce counties, is in the neighborhood of 2,000,- 
000 tons per annum. These shipments in the near future are not un¬ 
likely to be more than doubled. The wheat product of the state for the 
year 1890 was nearly 30,000,000 bushels, and it is safe to say that within 
ten years the wheat product will be nearly 100,000,000 bushels. The 
eastern portion of the state, when all the wheat lands are cultivated, is 
capable of producing about 120,000,000 bushels per annum, or say one- 
fourth of the present entire wheat product of the United States. The 
saving in cost to the farmer and the merchants in the shipment of this 
product by the lake instead of by salt water would amount to an enor¬ 
mous sum. 



✓ 


43 






































u In addition to the coal and wheat products, the amount of lumber to 
be shipped from the lake would be very large. 

“ There are also within fifty miles of the lake some of the best Bessemer 
iron deposits in the w r orld. Already transportation has been nearly pro¬ 
vided between the lakes and these deposits, and extensive works for the 
reduction of these ores are now being built upon the shores of the lake, 
and it is expected that these works and the mines wall be in operation 
within one year from this time. 

“Summing up, it may be said that there is not a coal mine of any con¬ 
sequence in the State of Washington that cannot more readily ship its 
products to Take Washington than to the Sound. Neither is there an 
iron ore deposit whose product could not be more readily shipped from 
the lake. As a site for the establishment of the very extensive manu¬ 
factures that will be required on the Pacific Coast, there is no point that 
begins to possess the advantages of Take Washington. This is so not 
only by superior natural location, but because of the inexhaustible sup¬ 
ply of fresh water. If the construction of a canal was begun at once it 
could not be completed before the developments in iron mining and manu¬ 
facturing, and in coal mining and the wheat product would more than 
justify the small expenditure required.’’ 

The construction of the canal does not lie entirely with Congress, as 
there are now eastern capitalists ready to undertake the task if right of 
way and a small subsidy in land be granted. The practicability and ad¬ 
vantages of the canal are conceded ; a few years will see it in operation. 

But it must not be supposed that the superior advantages of the eastern 
shores of Take Washington for manufacturing depend upon the con¬ 
struction of the canal. Far from it. That will be but an added advan¬ 
tage. There is no other location that is so near the center of the Puget 
Sound country, close to all its resources ; so admirably situated near to 
plenty of water, so advantageous in general lay of the land, or above all, 
connected so well by railway lines reaching out in all directions. No¬ 
where in the state do so many rich valleys converge as toward this point 
—the Snoqualmie, the Cedar river, the Green river, the Puyallup, the 
White river valleys and their tributaries are all immediately contiguous 
to the shores of Take Washington, while the Snohomish, Skagit and 
Nooksack countries to the north and the Nesqually, Cowlitz and Che- 
halis to the south and west are all connected by a great system of rail- 
« ways, all meeting or connecting for transportation to King county and 

the shores of Take Washington. Directly east are the most feasible 
passes through the Cascades, through which come the products of East¬ 
ern Washington and through which comes the ever increasing trans¬ 
continental trade, bound through Puget Sound to the Orient. 

Take Washington is most certainly, as stated, the commercial key of 
the State of Washington. 


44 


INDICATIONS OF A BRIGHT FUTURE- 


“Coming events 
east their shadows be¬ 
fore,’’ but the shadows 
sometimes take such 
grotesque forms that 
the wisest men mis¬ 
take their meaning. 
Evidences of future 
growth of a state, lo¬ 
cality or city are never 
lacking before that de 
velopment assumes large proportions and stability, but the men who in¬ 
terpret the signs aright and with sufficient confidence to be eventually 
benefitted are comparatively few. The shadows of events to come at 
Kirkland and all along the east of Lake Washington, however, are too 
distinct to admit of mistake as to their meaning. The investment of mil¬ 
lions of capital in the great iron and steel works, the building of the Belt 
Line Railway as the direct route of the Northern Pacific; the interest 
taken in the situation by the Great Northern and other tiauscontiuental 
roads, who all admit that they must have frontage on the lake as well as 
the sound ; the preliminary steps taken for the ship canal, and the in¬ 
vestment of over $3,000,000 by such men as John Rockefeller, Colgate 
Hoyt, W. H. Demorest, James McNauglit, J. F. McNaught, L. S. J. Hunt 
and other widely known capitalists, in real estate along the eastern shores 
of the lake ; all points to the fact that the location for manufactories is 
not only admitted to be the most advantageous, but that it is being taken 
advantage of and that great industries will be established as fast as it is 
possible to do so. The natural consequence will be a large population. 
The steel works alone will, as soon as in full operation, support a popula¬ 
tion of 20,000 people. It is not at all unnatural to suppose, indeed it is 
almost a certainty, that within a decade there will grow up about the steel 
works now being built, a manufacturing city that will rival in point of 
population and commercial wealth any of the large manufacturing cities 
of the East—a city that will stretch for miles along the eastern shores of 
Take Washington. 



% 


45 



























IH AND ABOUT ^If^UAISlD. 



By reference to the accompanying map, it will be seen that the Bake 
Washington Belt Line railroad passes through the most valuable prop¬ 
erty east of the lake, independent of the fact that the railroad itself en¬ 
hances the value of the property many hundred times. From a point 
just above Houghton, it curves to the east from the lake shore for two 
miles and continues north to the neck of water at the head of the lake. 
It is at the curve that the Great Western Iron and Steel Works’ extensive 
plant is being built, and close by is the site of the Kirkland Nail Works’ 
plant. It is at this point that the greatest immediate growth in business 
and population will naturally take place. Here the thousands of work¬ 
men emplo)' r ed in the mills and factories must find homes for themselves 
and families and the necessary commercial business for them be done. It 
is about this point from the lake shore east that Kirkland is now rapidly 
assuming the proportions of a city. 

The ground lies high and slopes sufficiently for a good system of drain¬ 
age, while the views in all directions are magnificent, the waters of the 
lake to the west, with the Olympic mountains in the distance, and the 
upland and Cascades to the east, with a view of Rainier in the south and 
Mt. Baker in the north. The water works that will be put in to supply 

46 






































the large amount of water necessary for the running of the iron and steel 
works will also supply other manufactories and the residences of Kirk¬ 
land. From the start the water works will be required to supply as much 
water as many systems in cities of 30,000 inhabitants. But for that mat¬ 
ter, it is not at all improbable that within a year from the opening of the 
steel works, the population in their immediate vicinity will number 
30,000 people, and it is beyond question that within a comparatively short 
time thereafter, the city 011 the eastern shores of Lake Washington will 
have assumed the proportion of a great manufacturing place. 

Sites for homes in Kirkland are, for the most part, being disposed of at 
a nominal price for the reason that the gentlemen interested in the city 
are also interested to the extent of several millions in different manufac¬ 
turing companies formed for the purpose of utilizing the resources of the 
country tributary to this point. The vast works for the manufacture of 
steel, steel rails, plate iron, nails, etc., are but the percursors of many 
other enterprises for which these gentlemen have already planned. 

The growth in population at and near to Kirkland since the commence¬ 
ment of construction on the steel works has been large, but not abnormal, 
as until the manufactories are in operation the demand for labor is not 
of course to be compared to what it will become. During the past year 
numbers of brick business buildings, hundreds of residences, and 
churches and schools have been built, miles of street planked, the num¬ 
ber of stores increased, and the population added to by four or five 
hundred per cent. The Baptist University of the Northwest has been 
located here, has over one hundred and thirty acres of land, and will 
immediately put up buildings worth $40,000, to be added to as occasion 
demands. 

To the thoughtful man, who realizes that Washington is a new state 
in a most advantageous geographical position for foreign trade, with in¬ 
calculable wealth in her mountains and valleys ; who has watched the 
rapid growth and development of the past five years ; who realizes the 
effect of the railway building just completed, being now done and 
planned for the future ; who has studied the map with reference to those 
roads and the different regions of the state to locate the natural commer¬ 
cial center of this new country, and the point where manufacturing of all 
kinds can most advantageously be carried 011 ; to that man it will not be 
a surprise that the shrewdest capitalists and manufacturers of the coun¬ 
try ; men who have amassed large fortunes by their business ability, have 
asserted, and backed their assertions by the investment of millions of 
money, that the great manufacturing city of the State of Washington, is 
already started to grow on the eastern shores of Lake Washington. 


47 


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING KIRKLAND PROPERTY 


WRITE TO 

McNAUGHT LAND AND INVESTMENT CO. 

OWNERS OF, AND AGENTS FOR 

Acreage Property, Business Property and Residence Property 

IN KIRKLAND AND OTHER CITIES OF WASHINGTON. 

OFFICES: Tremont Building, Seattle; Kirkland, Wash.; 
Anacortes, Wash.; Hamilton, Wash.; Roy, Wash. 










































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